Locally owned BFS Insurance opens big, new offices

Local owners of BFS Insurance, from left, include Darren Baxter, Scott Samuels and David Fish. They and their staff are celebrating the long journey to a newly constructed business home in Clarksville.(Photo: Jimmy Settle / The Leaf-Chronicle)Buy Photo

BFS was among businesses along Riverside Drive that were adversely affected by the May 2010 Cumberland River flood. Even as BFS clientele business continued to grow with Clarksville, the agency was forced to consolidate two local offices into one, with inadequate space for an extended period.

Now, seven years after the flood, BFS has one new office with plenty of space — about 6,000 square feet, to be exact — through an upscale interior building design at 1820 Madison St., Suite G. The agency was formerly at 1545 Madison with about half the office space it now has.

"We've seen a lot of growth in the business, and we've been really blessed by this outcome," said Darren Baxter, one of three partners in BFS along with David Fish and Scott Samuels.

BFS is now occupying the extensively remodeled, former home of Elite Wine & Spirits in a strip retail center along Madison. Friday's grand opening on the new business site featured a celebratory atmosphere with food, free solar eclipse glasses for attendees, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Partners agreed that there is plenty of cause for celebration. "We had the Riverside location, and the flood got us there," Baxter said. "When the flood occurred we moved everything over to (1545 Madison St.), but in the backs of our minds we always knew in the future something bigger was going to be needed.

"This location worked out perfect for us," he said. "I guess the flood was somehow a blessing in disguise. If it had never occurred, maybe we wouldn't have found our way to this beautiful new building. Back then, we couldn't have ever really visualized this."

Credit for the design, the partners said, goes to Brad Martin with Lyle-Cook-Martin Architects of Clarksville. "Brad calls this a 'racetrack design,' because the office hallway moves in a modern, circular pattern," Baxter said.